System and process for creating standardized shared service offerings with template for custom unique prices

ABSTRACT

A system and process provides online service providers with a platform to list services. The platform provides standardized templates for various business categories and service segments associated within each category. The electronic templates allow providers to conveniently enable/disable service offerings and input price, service tiers, and optional upgrades by toggling settings. The listing data is then received by the host and available to be listed through an online marketplace which may be presented to mobile application users. A search query by a consumer returns service listings that can be compared one to one by price a service offered.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None.

BACKGROUND

The embodiments herein relate generally to systems and processes forcreating standardized shared service offerings with customized uniqueprices.

The field of providing the purchase of online services is often limitedby the technology on the back end that limits the ease of use andflexibility of creating and managing purchasable services. Typically aservice is displayed on a website or mobile app with a staticdescription of the service and a static price associated with theservice. The back end part of the process is limited in this mannerbecause each business' service offerings are managed on a one-to-onebasis with price and the host server is merely coordinating payment forthe selected service added to an electronic shopping cart. A serviceprovider must typically build a website of mobile app and defineservices and pricing for each service. Updating service offerings andpricing typically requires the service provider to contract with aweb/app developer to open the site code and revise the code for updateddata. There is usually a delay (often days) in updating the informationbecause of the time needed to update code and the backlog in thedeveloper's schedule.

As a result of individual businesses building separate sites forservices, competitors will offer similar services but in many, if notmost cases, not the same service. Typically, there is a difference indetails of the service provided between competitors. Thus, there will bea price difference between the similar services from competitors makingit difficult for the end consumer to compare services and prices.

As can be seen, there is a need for a system and process that providesthe consumer flexibility in selecting and comparing between competingsources of a service during online shopping. To this end, a system andprocess that enables service providers to easily, efficiently, and costeffectively offer “shared” services while at the same time incorporatingunique prices for such shared services is needed.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the subject technology, a computer program product forhosting an online marketplace platform for services comprises anon-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readableprogram code embodied therewith. The computer readable program code isconfigured to: establish within a host server of the platform, abusiness segment of a business category; establish business segmentservices associated with the business segment; associate properties withthe business segment services including a description of a service and apricing field associated with the service; generate an electronictemplate of the business segment services using the associatedproperties of the business segment services; provide to a serviceprovider, through a network connection, an electronic user interface formanaging a selected business segment and associated business segmentservices, wherein the electronic user interface includes a setting totoggle on/off selected services by service providers; receive by thehost server from one of the service providers, user interface dataindicating one or more services being enabled by the setting to toggleon/off selected services; and attach the enabled service and associatedproperties to said service provider's profile.

In another aspect, a computer program product for hosting an onlinemarketplace platform for services, comprises a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium having computer readable program code embodiedtherewith, the computer readable program code being configured to:manage a business service online portal by a host server; establishwithin a host server of the platform, a business segment of a businesscategory; establish business segment services associated with thebusiness segment; associate properties with the business segmentservices including a description of a service and a pricing fieldassociated with the service, a price type associated with the service,and upgrade options associated with the service; generate of thebusiness segment services using the associated properties of thebusiness segment services; bundle the business segment servicesassociated with the business segment into an electronic template and anelectronic user interface for managing a selected business segment andassociated business segment services, wherein the electronic userinterface includes: a setting to toggle on/off selected services, managepricing of toggled on selected services, modify service offerings, andmodify service regions in which a toggled on services is offered;provide to a service provider, through a network connection, theelectronic template and the electronic user interface; receive by thehost server from the service providers, user interface data indicatingone or more services being enabled by the setting to toggle on/offselected services; and attach the enabled service and associatedproperties to the service provider's profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is madebelow with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numeralsrepresent corresponding parts of the figures.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a process for providing business servicesegment listings according to an embodiment of the subject technology.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a block diagram of a process for generating onlinebusiness service segment listings according to an embodiment of thesubject technology.

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a geolocation map of service providers locatedrelative to end consumers according to an embodiment of the subjecttechnology.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a user interface showing a service providerside host of standardized segmented services which can be toggled on/offfor listing in an online marketplace according to an embodiment of thesubject technology.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of the user interface of FIG. 5 showing a servicesegment enabled and priced according to an embodiment of the subjecttechnology.

FIG. 7 is a screenshot of a consumer side user interface of a serviceprovider mobile app service listing according to an embodiment of thesubject technology.

FIG. 8 is a screenshot of a consumer side user interface for selecting aservice(s) from the service provider of FIG. 7 according to anembodiment of the subject technology.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a computer system/server according to anembodiment of the subject technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

In general, embodiments of the disclosed subject technology solveproblems associated with online marketplaces and more particularly withproviding products or services from competing businesses in a mannerthat allows the end consumer to compare competing products and servicesmore accurately. As described above, conventional online marketplacesoffer a service with a static price associated with a static productoffering. Competitors will often try to differentiate themselves fromeach other by varying the service offered to justify the pricediscrepancy. Aspects of the subject technology disclosed below overcomethis deficiency in the online marketplace by for example, providing aback end process that allows providers to select through a userinterface (UI), a business segment (via template) and automatically addsrelated services. In an exemplary embodiment, a centralized businessservice platform is provided to independent service providers to turn onservices at their discretion one by one using unique online pricingthrough the UI for a list of standardized services, including servicetiers which enable a service provider to more precisely associate aprice with a service and a consumer to choose services specific to theirservice need in many instances. The UI provides a list of services thatcan be toggled on/off along with a price associated for each enabled(offered) service and ongoing service management. From the consumer end,the host server may provide an interface that displays a list of serviceproviders for a similar service with pricing among the same kind ofservice provider from a single list.

In an exemplary embodiment, a shared services template and associatedservice properties is provided which makes it easy to manage service forproviders. A shared service offering makes it easy for new serviceproviders to quickly and easily offer their services to the public.Furthermore, a shared service offering makes it easy for the public tocompare prices for a list of disparate and unrelated service providers.The shared services template also provides a platform for providers tocreate more personalized and custom service offerings using a predefinedservice segment avoiding the costly and difficult to maintain process ofgenerating a website/mobile app interface for each new service thatcurrent approaches use.

A manage services tool allows service providers to access a broad arrayof business segments and related business segment services to attach totheir profile for sale to the public. Many service providers do not havethe financial resources, knowledge, or ability to properly get theirlocal services onto the internet to connect with consumers. Bundlingservices with segments makes it easy for service providers to quicklyand easily add a variety of shared services to their profile. Addingshared services to a provider service offering one by one is cumbersomeand time consuming. Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein providepreset bundled services that allow providers to select, price, andassociate region of service on the fly thus eliminating the time andexpense of website creation or mobile app construction. The manageservices tool also allows service providers to add custom prices to theshared service template makes it easy for consumers to compare pricesagainst any service provider who uses the shared services.

A business category may have multiple business segments and servicespredefined for offering in the template. In an exemplary embodiment, anON/OFF toggle feature makes it easy for service providers to enable onlythose services that may be available, legal in their local area orjurisdiction along with offering those services that are in line withtheir area of specialty. The template may also be configured to provideservice tier offerings which allows for providers to better align aconsumer need with a provider price. The service tiers allows for thingslike size, or type of a consumer service requirement to be factored intothe service provider pricing tool. EG the type of car (SUV, Sedan, orMotorhome) will cause the price of the service to vary.

Service upgrades may be bundled with the service or service tier.Templates may match prices with tier specific upgrades which furtherenhances the ability to quickly and easily enable the shared upgradeswhich further enhances the service offering to meet consumer needs andwhere the manage services tool makes it easy and fast for serviceproviders.

Services associated with a provider profile may be connected to aservice region where consumers who reside in the service region canconnect with the service provider. This makes it easy for consumer toconnect only with those service providers who will realistically provideservices. For example, for a house call type service, the service regionfeature may display only providers that are likely to actually go to theconsumer's house to perform a service and excludes all other serviceproviders.

Referring now to FIG. 1 along with FIGS. 2 and 3 concurrently, a process100 for providing segmented services for an online marketplace is shownaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the subject technology. FIGS. 2and 3 show a block diagram 200 of the flow for generating businessservice segment listings with additional detail related to the steps inFIG. 1. The process 100 is generally a back end process that providesconsumer end users with a listing of services and service providers. Inan exemplary embodiment, the list of services generated by the process100 uses a standardized list of services and related options so thatservice providers are provided with facilitated means to list a servicefor sale through a centralized electronic platform. In general, theprocess 100 includes an administrator section 110, a service providersection 150, and device segment/service connect tools section 190. Theresults of the process sections 110, 150, and 190 are provided to theconsumer end user (shown as a list of buyers).

The administrator section 110 generates a business segment template (inthe form of an electronic file) for a service. The administrationsection 110 starts 115 by creating 120 a shared business segment 225(section 210 of FIG. 2). A shared business segment may be for example, acategory 215 or 220 of related business services. For example, a segmentmay refer to automotive services which may include businesses related tomechanical repair, body repair, washing and detailing, andequipment/accessory installation. A shared service 230 may be created125. For sake of illustration only a single segment 225 and service 230are called out. As an example, FIGS. 5-8 show user interfaces for abusiness segment generated for automotive washing and detailingservices. However it will be understood that various segments andservices (for example, the related services described above) may beestablished for the category 220. The shared service segment 225 mayinclude multiple services 230. Once a shared service 230 is established,shared service tiers 234 may be created 130. In some embodiments, sharedupgrades 238 may be created 135 to be listed with the service 230 forselection by the end consumer user. In some embodiments, shared servicespecifications may be created 140. Shared service specifications includefor example, associating a bid type with the service so that serviceproviders can accurately attach their prices to the service, servicetier, and/or upgrades. The platform enable a bid type to be either fixedor per unit and is updatable through the fields at the user'sconvenience. As may be appreciated this is a significant feature offeredover current systems that offer a static pricing entry that is enteredseparately for each service as defined by each provider on separatesites. The shared service model disclosed here allows a single interfacefor all service providers of a same service with flexibility in pricingstructure for unique offerings reached through a shared platform. Sharedservice specifications also include for example, optional features suchas associating an invoice type with a service, or an appointment typewith a service. For example, some services require a service provider toshow up at a precise time or they are considered late whereas otherservices allow the service provider to show up within an agreed upon“time window. Using the information established above, the sharedbusiness segment and service template is created 145. The template maybe stored in a host server database module 240.

A service provider (represented by section 150) may access the databasemodule 240 for a business service template to offer services online. Theprovider may manage 155 offered services by adding 160 a shared servicesegment 255 from the database module 240, which may be accessed by asoftware application operable for example, by a mobile computing deviceinterface. For sake of illustration, three service providers 250 areshown: providers 250A, 250B, and 250C. The platform may allow eachprovider 250 to offer shared service segments 225 (for example Segments“A” and “Z”) and some unique service segments 225 (Segments “B” and “M”that the other two providers 250 do not have. For a selected segment225, the provider may enable/disable/edit 165 services to be listed. Forenabled services, the provider may edit services and add 170 a price toeach service. Once each service by the provider is up to date, theprovider may turn on (or off) 180 the service for listing. Serviceproviders may return to the module 240 at their convenience to modifyand edit their prices associated with a shared service offering.Consumers will then always be able to see most recent up to date priceson the platform.

Referring to FIG. 3 along with FIGS. 5-6, user interfaces 260 (shown as260A, 260B, and 260C for respective providers 250A, 250B, and 250C fromFIG. 2) show the service providers which services for a business segmentare enabled along with the price associated with each service and afield to access upgrades to a service. FIG. 5 shows an example of aservice provider service management user interface 300. The interface300 may display a button 310 to add a service segment and turn on/offservices for a segment. The interface 300 may represent for example oneof the user interfaces 260 from FIG. 3. The user interface 300 shows abusiness segment related to automotive car wash and detailing. Theservice provider may be presented with a summary of the amount ofservices that can be enabled for sale (including how many services arealready enabled for the provider's account) along with a field for eachservice. A service provider may press a selection button 312 for a givenservice which may activate a pop-up window under the service fieldentering a price (in field 314) for a selected service to be offered andselecting a predetermined upgrade 316 to the service. Once the servicesare selected along with pricing, the service provider only needs totoggle the electronic setting 320 on to enable offering the service. InFIG. 6, the toggle button 320 for the field labeled “PROFESSIONAL PLUSDETAILING” is shown as shifted to the right and represents the serviceas enabled (toggled on). As may be appreciated this is much moreconvenient than having to update HTML, Java® or other code to show eachindividual service offered along with price. Moreover, the aspectsdisclosed above make it easy for a business to update pricing withouthaving to request code to a mobile app to be updated to reflect theprice change. Thus service providers may offer pricing deals throughoutthe day and change back to standard pricing after a deal is over at aninstant. It will be further appreciated that several services can bemanaged easily from the single management platform with the same easebecause a standardized format may be used for all segments and relatedservices.

In an exemplary embodiment, additional features including service tierorganization may be included in the business segment customizationdescribed above. FIG. 7 shows a consumer side user interface 400 thatdisplays a selected service purchasable online. The interface 400 showsas an example the selection of a service (“EXPRESS EXTERIOR WASH”) thatwas setup from the provider side in FIGS. 5 and 6. The interface 400includes a description of the selected service along with pricingoptions depending on the type of automobile the consumer wishes to bewashed. FIG. 8 shows a service provider user interface 500 that providesa template of service tiers for a service type that allows the providerto easily set pricing and enable by switching the toggle button 520 on.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an electronic geolocation map 260 may bedisplayed in response to a consumer side search query for a service.Each provider may set up a service area based on a predetermined radiusfrom the service location. The host server may determine which ofproviders 275A, 275B, and/or 275C are closest to consumers requestingservices. In some instances a consumer (for example, Consumer 1) may bewithin the area of multiple providers (as shown for example, 275A and275B). Thus Consumer 1 may be presented on a mobile applicationinterface a list of services providers from which to compare servicesand prices.

Once the provider has turned ON a service or services the devicesegment/service connect tools module 190 includes tools the consumeruses to connect with the service provider for services that are turnedon using the manage services tool so that they can then purchaseservices. For example, when a provider turns on a service, a consumercan then access a provider profile and see those services that are onand purchase those services. A consumer can use search tools or usecoupons to connect with a provider and its services.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a schematic of an example of a computersystem/server 10 is shown. The computer system/server 10 is shown in theform of a general-purpose computing device. The computer system/server10 may serve the role as the machine implementing for example thefunctions of storing computer program product embodiments of the subjecttechnology, generating business service segment templates, storingservice provider information, storing service provider service data,hosting an online platform, and matching up consumer searches withservice providers by area. The components of the computer system/server10 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors orprocessing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18 that couplesvarious system components including the system memory 28 to theprocessor 16.

The computer system/server 10 may be for example, personal computersystems, tablet devices, mobile telephone devices, wearable computingdevices, server computer systems, handheld or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, and distributed cloudcomputing environments that include any of the above systems or devices,or voice enabled devices and the like. The computer system/server 10 maybe described in the general context of computer system executableinstructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computersystem (described for example, below). As a host server providing theonline platform, in some embodiments, the computer system/server 10 maybe an intermediary computing device hosting information provided by andmanaged by service providers which are provided in turn to consumer endusers. Other functions of the host server embodiment include providingelectronic payment processing between service providers and consumers.In some embodiments, the computer system/server 10 may be a cloudcomputing node connected to a cloud computing network (not shown). Thecomputer system/server 10 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

The computer system/server 10 may typically include a variety ofcomputer system readable media. Such media could be chosen from anyavailable media that is accessible by the computer system/server 10,including non-transitory, volatile and non-volatile media, removable andnon-removable media. The system memory 28 could include one or morecomputer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as arandom access memory (RAM) 30 and/or a cache memory 32. By way ofexample only, a storage system 34 can be provided for reading from andwriting to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media device. Thesystem memory 28 may include at least one program product 40 having aset (e.g., at least one) of program modules 42 that are configured tocarry out the functions of embodiments of the invention. The programproduct/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in the system memory 28 by way of example, and notlimitation, as well as an operating system, one or more applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data. Each of the operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program modules, andprogram data or some combination thereof, may include an implementationof a networking environment. The program modules 42 generally carry outthe functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention asdescribed above.

The computer system/server 10 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24,etc.; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enablethe computer system/server 10 to communicate with one or more othercomputing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output (I/O)interfaces 22. Alternatively, the computer system/server 10 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via a network adapter 20. As depicted, the network adapter20 may communicate with the other components of the computersystem/server 10 via the bus 18.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of thedisclosed invention may be embodied as a system, method or process, orcomputer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosedinvention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,”“module,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the disclosed inventionmay take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer readable media having computer readable program code embodiedthereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable media (for example,storage system 34) may be utilized. In the context of this disclosure, acomputer readable storage medium may be any tangible or non-transitorymedium that can contain, or store a program (for example, the programproduct 40) for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. A computer readable storage medium may be,for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Aspects of the disclosed invention are described above with reference toblock diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer programproducts according to embodiments of the invention. It will beunderstood that each block of the block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to the processor 16 of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous designconfigurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of theinventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations andarrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of theinvention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather thannarrowed by the embodiments described above.

1. A computer program product for generating customized pricing ofin-common business service offerings through an online marketplaceplatform for direct comparison of the in-common business services byconsumers, the computer program product comprising a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium having computer readable program codeembodied therewith, the computer readable program code being configured,when executed by a processor, to: establish within a host server of theplatform, a database of business categories, business segments withineach business category, services within each business segment, servicetiers associated with each of the services, and service providers bygeographic location; generate, within the host server, a serviceprovider electronic user interface template for display on a firstmobile computing device, accessible to a plurality of service providersthrough a network connection to the platform; generate for display inthe service provider electronic user interface template, in response toa first request by one of the service providers, a plurality of tieredfields for receiving service information properties associated withbusiness services provided by the service provider, the tiered fieldsincluding: a first tier of the business categories retrieved from thedatabase, a second tier of the business segments, each business segmentbeing a subcategory of a respective first tier business category, athird tier of the business services, each business service being asubcategory of a respective second tier business segment and in-commonto service providers in the same business segment, a fourth tier of theservice tiers, each service tier being a subcategory of a respectivethird tier business service, wherein each service tier includes adescription of service details performed in-common to service providersin the same business segment and a pricing associated with the servicetier; assign a first unique identification for each business servicetiered field; generate a selectable toggle on/off feature, displayed onthe service provider electronic user interface template, for eachbusiness service tiered field, enabling a plurality of the businessservices within a business segment for the one service provider inresponse to a second request by the one service provider, to bedisplayed in association with the one service provider; generate apricing field for each enabled business service where a service providerinputs his unique price with a selected business service tier; store inthe host server platform, the user input entry with respective enabledbusiness services; generate a second unique identification for eachtiered field including an enabled business service, the received userinput entry for the enabled business service tiered field, and theservice provider for each tiered field; store in the database, accordingto the second unique identification, each tiered field for an enabledbusiness service for each service provider; store in the database, thegeographic location of the service provider for each tiered field withan enabled business service; and generate for display on a second mobilecomputing device, a customer electronic user interface, in response to acustomer service request query by a consumer for a selected service tothe host server through the platform; display on the customer electronicuser interface, a geolocation map presenting a list of service providersthat have a service area which are closest to the consumer and areproviding the selected service tier associated with the businessservice; retrieve from the database, by the second uniqueidentification, the business services enabled by respective serviceproviders in the presented list; and display on the customer electronicuser interface, for each service provider in the presented list ofservice providers, each of the enabled business services along with theservice tiers available within each enabled business service. 2.-3.(canceled)
 4. The computer program product of claim 1, furthercomprising computer readable program code being configured to include inthe service provider electronic user interface template a field toprovide an appointment window for scheduling the service.
 5. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, further comprising computerreadable program code being configured to include in the serviceprovider electronic user interface template a field to enable upgradeoptions associated with the service. 6.-10. (canceled)
 11. The computerprogram product of claim 1, wherein the pricing field is configured toreceive a bid type price based on either a fixed rate or a per unitrate.
 12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the serviceprovider electronic user interface template includes an invoice typefield for offering a form of invoicing to customers.